Rivet Logic Blogs

Tag: digital experience

With 68% of all Americans owning smartphones, it’s no wonder that many companies place a huge emphasis on mobile first. Yet from Starbucks to Uber, companies are realizing what matters are screens, not devices, and these mobile app driven companies are quickly adding complimentary web apps to create a better customer experience. The “context first” focus is the next wave of customer experience design that will soon replace mobile first as the leading approach to customer experience design. This smarter, more seamless design caters to the best of both worlds (mobile and web) and helps designers break away from designing for mobile by removing functions previously created for large screens.

Mobile is Not Enough

Simply put, mobile first is really a design strategy and not a complete method of approaching customer experience. It, in fact, limits the scope of the overall customer experience. While the optimal screen size is still a moving target, and there is fast-paced change concerning which screen size is best for varying contexts, it really all comes down to access to consuming and publishing information. From screens on wrists to tablets and notebooks, information via screens and not devices is the overarching concept that the “context first” design solves.

Customers, be they B2C or B2B, want a buying journey synchronized with their daily life as they interact with a brand’s products and services through numerous touchpoints and varying contexts (other than mobile). When companies stick with a mobile first design they miss out on key opportunities for customer engagement. A recent Gallup poll indicated that engaged customers buy 90% more frequently and even wary customers will give more money to companies they feel emotionally connected to – while ignoring others.

Context First Design

Servicing customers in a way that takes advantages of the situational context of use will create a better customer experience every time. Whether this means eliminating steps to speed up the process or, adding a step or two to enable the customer to easily broadcast their activities to their social circle, all depends on the objectives at hand. For example, most people don’t take their laptop to the beach and no one is creating the board deck from their smartphone, so considering what screen is best for input and what screen is best suited for output can make all the difference. The ultimate goal, of course is to help the customer achieve their intended objective in a way that delights in their current context.

Context first is significant because it focuses on why a customer is engaging with a brand or company and allows companies to respond to each phase in a customer’s decision journey as well as the customer’s interaction with technologies outside of mobile. Additionally, it gives companies a broader lens of customer content and valuable customer data to better drive engagement and deliver a highly personalized, responsive and more ubiquitous customer experience.

Imagine the possibilities for the customer experience and top line growth of a company with the ability to completely address all context drivers to further engage customers and enhance their experience. Context first opens doors for brands that were once closed by mobile-first thinking.